Family ties unravel in crime novel

'Identity' is Ingrid Thoft's second story featuring Boston-based P.I.

In her new crime novel, “Identity,” Ingrid Thoft explores what it means to be a family.

Investigator Fina Ludlow takes on a case involving a single mother who had children via artificial insemination and wants to learn the name of her anonymous sperm donor. Not long after Ludlow discovers his identity, he winds up dead.

This is Thoft’s second novel featuring Ludlow, a sharp-tongued P.I. with family issues of her own. The series is set in Boston, where Thoft was born. She lives now in Seattle, where she answered questions by phone in advance of her appearance Monday at 7 p.m. at Mysterious Galaxy in Kearny Mesa.

Q: What was the first crime novel you remember reading and going “wow”?

A: Oh, man. Probably “A is for Alibi” (Sue Grafton), and I think largely because of the character, because of Kinsey. She was such a departure from anything that I had read before.

Q: What prompted you to begin writing your own series?

A: I’ve always wanted to write, even as a child. When I came out of college I got jobs in various establishments where I was writing, whether it be higher ed or interactive companies, and then finally I decided it was now or never.

I started with an amateur sleuth series that I had an agent for but didn’t sell and then I decided that was too limiting and so that’s when I created Fina, a professional investigator.

Q: At some point you even went to the University of Washington to get a P.I. certificate. Why did you do that?

A: When I wanted to make the transition from an amateur sleuth, I felt that I really wanted to have a solid background in private investigation, even though I don’t care to be one myself. First of all, so I have a sense of what I’m talking about, but also because when I have Fina break various rules or kind of go off the path a little bit it’s purposeful. It’s not because she doesn’t know what she’s doing. It’s because I’m having her make a particular choice.

Q: The title of the new book, “Identity,” has a couple of different meanings, at least. Was that on purpose?

A: Yes. I like to start with kind of big questions and take the book from there. I was thinking about what makes a family, is it nature vs. nurture? That raises for me lots of interesting questions that have a whole variety of different answers. So I like readers to be able to look at it and bring their own take to it as well.

Q: Was there anything in particular, something in the news, that drew your attention to artificial insemination?

A: One of the first things that caught my eye was these cases of men who learned they had fathered 75 kids. Obviously these are the extreme cases but it was interesting to me that this was a problem that was coming home to roost.

We are at a point where this first wave of kids who were fathered through artificial insemination is coming of age and deciding how they want to proceed in terms of their own paternity. I thought that was really fascinating. It was one thing when the parents were making those decisions but it’s another thing when young people get into their 20s and say, “Wait a second. What my mom thinks or what my dad thinks is not necessarily what I think.” And certainly with the Internet, these kids are finding one another on their own regardless of what the law is or what their parents want them to do.

Q: You mentioned family earlier, and that’s one of the things Fina struggles with, too. Why is that something you wanted to write about?

A: A character like Lisbeth Salander from the Stieg Larsson books, she was really captivating but she was the product of abuse and operates outside of the mainstream. My question when I started to write was, what if you have a female character who is strong and opinionated and fearless to an extent but still has to operate within the confines of a family and within those expectations? That to me is a nice puzzle that I like to play with.

Q: Your books wrestle with the idea of where you draw the line when it comes to family, when doing the right thing might harm someone you love.

A: You can look in the paper and there are all kinds of situations and scenarios where people are having to make those decisions — perhaps not within their own family, but within their larger community or their workplace. I think that’s interesting to readers because we think we know how we might behave but when it actually comes down to it, it’s not always that clear.

Q: This book is based in Boston, which has also been the setting for other detective series over the years. What is it about that city that lends itself to these kinds of stories?

A: For me, first of all, it’s where I’m from. There’s a familiarity there that I am very comfortable with. When I started writing the series we had moved to Seattle so it was kind of a neat way for me to be back in Boston in my head. I love Seattle, but it wasn’t home yet for us.

I also think Boston has so many interesting elements. It has a very strong sense of neighborhood, and it has a very strong sense of history. And it’s an interesting mix of the past and the future. Medicine and technology and higher education, those are key industries in the city. It has major league sports teams, wonderful art museums. When I’m thinking about where to set a scene, there are just so many different options that are available to me as a writer.